Slender The Eight Pages
by Mastertot
Summary: The events preceding Slender.
1. Chapter 1

Taylor Rose sat in the back seat of her sisters Nissan watching the evening scenery roll by as the girls drove to a party on the other side of town. It was around ten at night in late october and the group of girls (Hanna, Lyla, and Amelia) were all performing karaoke to pop music on the radio. All but Taylor, who was seated in the back seat of that Nissan. She sat quietly gazing out at the rural landscape. This is her story and how she came to be searching the park for eight pages in the middle of the night.

"You don't seem like you really want to be here Taylor," Hanna said turning down the radio, "you sure you're ok?"

"Yeah Tay, we've been planning to go for months." Lyla pointed out adjusting the rear view mirror so it pointed towards herself.

From the drivers seat Taylor's twenty three year old sister Amelia commented, "Those stories about the woods being haunted aren't real you know, it was made to scare people."

Obviously they aren't, and why would an internet urban legend scare me? Taylor thought to herself. Not acknowledging her sister's taunt, she returned her focus to the scenery. Without warning Amelia screamed out, "BOO!"

"What the hell Amelia!" She yelled back.

"Oh come on Tay," She managed to say in between giggles, " you need to lighten up."

"That's enough Amelia, stop picking on her," Lyla said suppressing a laugh, "we already know she can't take a joke."

Again the other girls burst into laughter. Taylor ignored it rolling her eyes and went back to gazing out at the twilight outside. Several minutes later the Nissan pulled up the path into the woods and the girls all piled out.

"It's not too bad out here." Hanna said.

"Where did they say that the party was being held?" Taylor asked trying to sound as calm and not at all pissed of as possible.

"The invite said it would be in the house next to the park itself," Lyla said starting to walk off towards the only house they could see, "and I don't doubt it's the one lit like a christmas tree."

It didn't take long before they reached the front door of the old house. It was a two story home much like the ones in the suburbs only with a tall stone wall circling the perimeter. Within the wall was a swingset and a wooden playhouse in back. The house itself sat in the center glowing like the sun. As Taylor approached she began to feel the base of the music resonating from the building. The front door shook with every note.

It was Hannah who opened it. Like a tidal wave the sound rushed out nearly knocking Taylor to the ground. Clearly these people are deaf if the music needs to be this loud. Taylor thought critically as she cautiously tailed her sister inside. Now that she was no longer shielded from the music by the front door she understood why the party was being held way out here. That and the fact that the park it sat next to was used in a videogame she'd seen online.

She had only been to this side of town once and knew that the park was here. It was clear that anyone with enough time to make this park into the setting for a horror videogame was both from the area and needed to get a life.

Even though the park was sealed off it made the perfect place for a halloween party to be held near by. It's inevitable, someone will hop the fence and do something dumb. She wasn't aware of it yet but someone would, but that someone would be her.

Taylor was tired, it was after midnight, and she wanted to go home. Her sister had insisted every time she had been confronted on the subject that they were going to stay till the end. So she was sitting dejectedly on a couch staring down at a game of chess sitting on a wood coffee table. For all she knew black was winning. She didn't care about the game that had been abandoned, she just needed something to focus on or she knew she would pass out on the couch.

That was when one of the boys walked in. He was only five foot six from what Taylor could tell, but he clearly was an athlete. He had thick muscular arms and an obvious ego to match. Oh JOY, now he's going to hit on me and I'll have to shoot him down.

He sat down on the couch that lined the wall to her right. It was only a few seconds before he began to talk.

"I hear that the park over there is haunted by Slenderman." He said clearly aiming the statement towards her.

When she didn't respond he continued, "I've also heard of eight pages within the park that are left there by his victims."

This was common staff she'd heard often, all of it based on the videogame form the internet.

"I doubt anyone could find 'em though" He finished.

"Get a life that's such bullshit." She mumbled.

"Don't believe me?" He asked.

"That is all made up, it's all from a video game online"

"Is it though?" He answered, "You don't have any proof."

Taylor stood up angrily, "I don't need any, that's all fake!"

"How about you go out there and take a solid ten minutes inside the park and come back, if you genuinely can't find any notes I'm wrong"

"Fine!"

Taylor reached out her hand for him to hand her a flashlight, which he just so happened to have. It didn't occur to her that he could have been inside and posted notes around. She just wanted to prove this jock wrong so he'd stop hitting on her. She was up over the fence and twenty feet in before she turned on the flashlight.

To Be Continued...


	2. Chapter 2

_She was up over the fence and twenty feet in before she turned on the flashlight._

**Slender; The 8 Pages**

* * *

The cool breeze that blew through the park chilled Taylor to the core. She'd once again let her stubborn attitude block out her better judgement. She wasn't supposed to be there, but she couldn't go back. That thick skulled jock would think that she'd chickened out. She had metaphorically and literally crossed the line.

She'd hoped the fence lining the park, she done what she had told herself she wouldn't do, and now with the flashlight throwing shadows around she was pretty sure that she'd crossed the fine line between rational and completely nuts.

"Only eight pages," She muttered under her breath, "only eight."

Taylor squinted, to no avail, in an attempt to see farther. Fog was rolling in obscuring almost everything from view. Her flashlight just wasn't strong enough to light up more than a few paces ahead of her. Taylor took in a long, deep breath and started walking.

The first paper she found was taped to a thick tree where the path skirted around it on both sides. trees were scribbled on the crumpled paper. It only took a few moments to realize that this page was outside much longer than just that night. It was torn, sun bleached tan, and water had dried on it discoloring the surface.

"No, this isn't real," Taylor told herself, "it's just old parchment paper, that jock spilled some water on it and rubbed it on the tree to crinkle it."

It was the best rational explanation she could muster. Not even a good one, simply the only and best one she could come up with.

"One page of eight, seven left." Taylor said.

Even though it was supposed to be encouraging it came out sounding more like a countdown. Like the minutes ticking away on a bomb; foreboding and final.

It wasn't long before she found another, this one barely sticking to the metal of a shipping crate. It had the same sun faded tone, dark scribbles, and was weather worn. Her doubts and rationalizations being brought down one by one.

The third page finally did her in. Taylor found it stuck up inside of a bathroom complex. It wasn't in as bad a shape as the first two but clearly had been there for a long time. It was evident from the way it cracked at her touch. Like a dam bursting, all of her theories were washed away. There wasn't a way to get a piece of paper to look like that artificially.

Taylor didn't even attempt to search for reasons that the page could be in that condition. The page had been there for a year or longer.

She left the bathroom facility with a new goal. She no longer wanted to shrug off the jock, now all she wanted was to find the last five pages. If she got them, it could give her an explanation. But she also knew what the video games' ending was. Even if you got all eight pages, you still died.

Now, with that grim thought fresh in her mind, she began to jog. The fourth page was taped to a rock. She tore it from the rocks and continued her search, heart racing as she went. She uncovered the fifth page not too far from the last.

The flashlight's beam flickered and she froze in her tracks.

I can't be out of battery now! She thought.

Taylor swiveled to take in her surroundings. Nothing. She began to walk again but couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched.

Slenderman isn't real, he's just a legend. She thought, but she couldn't bring herself to believe it. Like the battery life in the flashlight, her confidence waned. Three more pages to find.

Out of the corner of her eye she thought she saw movement and began to speak, "I don't believe in you, you're not real and you can't hurt me."

After that she continued moving. Several more times she saw movement in the corners of her vision. While she couldn't get a good view of the thing she felt it's presence. It was like it wanted her to know it was there.

She stumbled upon the next page not long after she spoke to the thing in the woods. When she picked it up he flashlight went dead. A new wave of panic washed over her. the darkness was overpowering, like a vice grip closing in on her from all sides. So she ran. She got only a few steps before slamming into a solid object. It wasn't a tree.

In the dim light she could barely make out the shape. Clearly it was almost seven feet tall. Mostly black with small splotches of white. Immediately she sprang to her feet and ran but tripped before she could even get out of the clearing. She never felt herself hit the ground.


End file.
